These Broken Wings

no problems here

When Dixon heard his men laughing, he turned around to locate the source of their amusement. The man let out a heavy sigh and tried not to start laughing himself. His future Luna was full of surprises. But even he wasn’t expecting her to open the door to the large packhouse garage and wheel a giant custom painted motorcycle out of it. From the designs, it was obvious that RickyJo painted the bike herself. And he suspected she might have built the entire machine from the ground up. It certainly didn’t look like something from a showroom floor.

“What are you doing with that?,” he asked, holding out a small sliver of hope that she was just wheeling it out of the garage to show it off.

“Bringing it with me,” she replied, not without some sass in her voice. “You told me to get my stuff.” Dixon narrowed his eyes at her, trying to decide what he ought to do about this new and unexpected development. To be fair, he did tell her to get her things because he was taking her back home with him today. But what he had in mind was some clothes and maybe a bag of toiletries. Not a whole ass motorcycle. He was thankful when her grandmother spoke up, acting as the voice of reason.

“What in hell are you doing with that?,” the woman asked. “RickyJo! Go put that back in the garage right this minute.”

“Go piss on a hydrant!,” RickyJo hollered back. “...you can’t tell me what to do with my own bike!”

“That’s it!,” the woman hollered back, the color rising in her cheeks. “I’m going to get your grandfather!” Her headstrong granddaughter had been arguing with her the entire morning. RickyJo was going home with her mate. To be presented to his entire pack as their new Luna. How she looked and behaved was a reflection on their entire pack. And she was absolutely refusing to dress in a way that her grandmother deemed appropriate. When RickyJo wheeled her bike out of the garage, clearly intending to ride it all the way to her new pack, it was the last straw. The only gem of relief in this entire situation, as far as her grandmother was concerned, was that RickyJo’s wild ass behavior was about to become someone else’s problem.

“Nice bike.”

Dixon turned toward the warrior behind him that made the comment, shooting the man a warning look. The man shrugged, grinning sheepishly. RickyJo wheeled the bike over, eager to show it off to someone that looked excited to see the machine. She waved the man over, encouraging him to sit on the bike and get a feel for it. Like Dixon suspected, she had built it and painted it herself. And upon closer inspection, it really was a functional piece of art. He could understand why she was reluctant to leave it behind. While his warriors crowded in to look at their new Luna’s handiwork, RickyJo snuggled into Dixon’s side.

“I’ve got another bike in there that’s only half done,” she said, ticking her head towards the garage. “I bet I could rig it up so you could drive it one-handed. Then we could go riding together!”

Say yes and thank her you doofus! Dixon laughed and took his wolf’s advice.

“I’d love that,” he told his mate. Her face lit up and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her lips against his. Other than some heavy making out, nothing else s****l had happened between them yet. But she let him sleep in her bed with her. And with her head on his chest and their scents mingling together under the blankets, he got the best night of sleep he had in the last twenty years.

“Until then we can both ride on my bike,” she suggested, looking up at him hopefully. When it appeared that Dixon was hesitating, the warrior that was the most impressed by the bike spoke up again.

“Just think about how badass you’ll look pulling up outside the packhouse on this bike. With her!,” the man said, giving Dixon’s mate an appreciative glance. Shadow pushed forward, growling intensely at the man. He bared his neck immediately. “Be mad. But you know I’m right,” the man teased. Normally, he wouldn’t push his luck with Dixon Blane. But anyone could see the man’s entire demeanor had changed since meeting his mate. The man had a smile plastered on his face since yesterday morning. Before that, they only saw his teeth if he was growling.

Dixon looked down at his mate’s pleading eyes. Unlike her grandmother, he wasn’t concerned with appearances. His pack was so desperate for their Luna, he knew they would accept her even if he brought home a human chambermaid. His concern was for his Luna’s safety. After what happened to his previous mate, Dixon was reluctant to take chances with his new one. Riding in the back of one of his heavily armored SUVs was much safer than riding a motorcycle. But if they stayed with his convoy, he felt they would be reasonably safe. Most of their traveling would be through his territory. So there wasn’t really any chance of an unexpected attack.

“I want one of my cars in front of us and two of them behind us,” he told her, “...the entire time. And I want you to wear a helmet.”

RickyJo squealed and leaped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and knocking him back a step. He slid his arms under her ass to support her weight and laughed as she peppered his entire face with kisses. When she finally hopped back down, she turned and tore ass off into the packhouse to get her riding jacket. She passed her grandfather on her way in. The man just darted out of her way to avoid being completely run over. Then he shook his head at her.

“My Luna said there was some sort of problem going on out here,” Augustus said, glancing at Dixon Blane. The man didn’t appear to be having a problem. In fact, Augustus saw absolutely no problem that would have required him to get up in the middle of his breakfast.

“No problems here,” Dixon assured him. The only problem he had at the moment was in his pants. And he was fairly certain his mate’s grandfather didn’t want to hear about that.

“I’ll give you a week or so to settle in and then I’ll contact you to set up the training schedule,” Augustus said.

“The next full moon is in seven days. Why don’t you and your family come for the Luna ceremony and we can discuss it then?,” he suggested, trying not to laugh at the shocked look on the older Alpha’s face. A Luna ceremony was held to welcome the Luna into her new pack. At that point, her connection to her previous pack was considered broken. Her old pack members were not traditionally included in or invited to the ceremony. But then again, this was sort of an unusual mating. Dixon wasn’t mating just his future Luna. He was mating the pack’s alpha heir apparent. Once Augustus stepped down, Dixon and RickyJo would be absorbing her previous pack. Looking at it that way, it made sense to include them. The more prepared the Blood Moon pack was for this, the less chance there was that there would be any sort of power struggle.

“We’d be honored to attend,” Augustus said, extending his hand to the man.